By Globe Staff
The Yonkers, New York Police Department (YPD) created a Gang Intervention Unit I in May of 2001. The unit was formed to combat a rise in gang activity and gang violence.
The YPD Gang Unit was the first such police unit formed in Westchester County. It remains the only fulltime gang unit in the county.
There has been a noticeable decrease in the identification of new gang members since the inception of the gang unit, and information and intelligence gathered by the gang unit has been used to solve numerous homicides, assaults and other crimes, both gang and non-gang related.
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Categories: What's working
Tagged: gangs
By David Muhammad
Nov. 4 may prove to be the biggest election in United States history. Voter turnout is likely to be the largest ever. But in addition to choosing the next American president, California voters will also decide on several ballot measures, including Proposition 6.
Prop. 6 is a ballot initiative sponsored by Republican state Senator George Runner and funded by billionaire Henry Nicholas. Depicted by proponents as the Safe Neighborhoods Act, the proposition will divert billions from schools, health care and firefighters to fund surveillance and increased incarceration.
The initiative will cost California taxpayers $1 billion in fiscal year 2009-2010, $500 million in the subsequent year and more each year thereafter for prisons, jails and law enforcement costs. Prop. 6 would require spending at least a half a billion dollars on new prison construction at a time when California spends four times as much per prisoner than per public school student.
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Categories: Features
Tagged: CA Prop 6, politics, youth tried as adults
By Globe Staff
One of the greatest challenges facing young people and especially those most at risk of engaging in violent behavior is the substandard quality of education they receive from their schools. And one of the major obstacles to improving education is the extremely low wages teachers earn, causing many highly capable educators to choose other career paths. Then there is also the challenge of how difficult it is to fire bad teachers, who are tenured members of a teachers union.
There is a new innovative proposal in Washington, D.C., and a three-year-old initiative in Denver that seeks to address these challenges. While neither could be considered successful yet, the fresh, innovative ideas are inspiring.
In Washington, D.C., the new, energetic chancellor of the school district, who was specifically hired to reform a devastated school system, has proposed a new program that would compensate effective teachers up to more than $100,000, but also make it easier to dismiss poor performing teachers.
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Categories: What's working
Tagged: teacher salaries, Washington DC
By David Muhammad
I have constantly referred to the problems that produce violence and the potential solutions as complicated and complex. The causes have been developing for decades, and therefore the solutions will not be quick-fix overnight wonders. Though the public and even politicians seem to want immediate relief from violent crime, real longer-term solutions require intense, protracted, long-term remedies.
This is where the need to understand the difference between prevention, intervention and suppression come in. In response to a surge of violence, a town hall meeting or city council meeting may call for action. The response is often “we need more police” or “we need more mentoring programs.” Neither one of these will result in an immediate impact on violence. To add officers to the force, you have to recruit, hire and send cadets through the academy. That’s often a year’s process. And mentoring is violence prevention, but it will rarely if ever net immediate results in crime reduction.
There are two fronts in combating violence that need just as much attention, resources and expertise. These two fronts are often lumped together but require different approaches and understanding. There are the existing circumstances that cause violence now, and then there are persisting conditions that cause individuals to grow up and make poor decisions to engage in violent behavior.
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Categories: Features
By Globe Staff
Pathways to Peace is a street-level outreach team that establishes a rapport with Rochester, New York’s violent youth and gangs, assesses their needs and situation, and then links them to resources to prevent youth and gang violence. Pathways uses both traditional and non-traditional intervention and is deemed necessary for the survival of our youth.
Pathways to Peace was created in 1998 is to reduce youth/gang violence in Rochester by working closely with all available community resources, including schools, families, law enforcement, human service agencies and faith-based organizations to improve overall public safety and quality of life.
Other services of Pathways to Peace include dispute mediation; professional, youth and community training/ education; gang mapping/tracking; and youth violence/gang consultation.
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Categories: What's working